A post-apocalyptic series with weird western vibes and an Arthurian slant. War is coming. Its destruction darkens the skies of a broken Earth. The unholy forces of Skye’s mortal enemy and one-time mentor, Hunter Wolf, gather to destroy New Denver and all that Skye has built with the help of the sometimes sorcerer Marlin and King Arthur’s mythical sword Excalibur. She’s no hero, she knows this. She’s only a former mercenary and loner, a survivor. The smart move is to run once again, to save her own skin. But Skye has fought for a home among the desperate refugees flooding into the city. They chose her as their leader, ignoring her bloody past, trusting her. She has promised them a future free of Wolfe’s evil and given them the one thing in short supply—hope. And, she has finally found hope of her own: a chance to love. How can she let down those who trust her, the man who loves her? No, Skye is done with running, with surviving. This time she fights. Even if it costs her everything...

Start this post-apocalyptic series with weird western vibes and shades of Arthurian legend by urban fantasy author Thea Atkinson The world is dark, divided, and in desperate need of a hero. Bandits destroyed Skye's home and sent her running into the hands of a power-hungry despot. Now, with the government burying itself in bunkers underground and technology lost to all but a sacred few, the hunt for a weapon of incredible magic has begun. And the hunters have their sights set on Skye. One is a powerful sorcerer who wants her to join the fight. All she has to do is accept his gift: a sword possessed of legendary magic that is both terrible and frightening. A sword that can turn her into that hero. That is...if can she wield its power without losing herself to it… Fans of Faith Hunter, Helen Harper, and Ilona Andrews have already begun to sink their teeth into this gritty fantasy adventure. It reads like urban fantasy with shades of weird western vibes.

A post-apocalyptic tale with weird western vibes from urban fantasy author Thea Atkinson She beat back the threat once. But now it isn't coming for her. It's coming for everyone. Skye spent years on her own in the dangers of New Earth because she couldn't trust anyone. Now that the residents of New Denver have elected her their leader, she needs to find a way to navigate the treacherous landscape of faith. She has Excalibur. She has a sort-of magician named Marlin. And she has a budding romance with the blacksmith. But safety is not assured. And legends have a way of ending badly. When a sudden fire threatens the entire town, gathers the troops to bring it under control, using the powers of her magician’s allies to contain it. But it’s no ordinary fire. Hunter Wolfe has returned, and now he has an ally himself. One more powerful than she’s ever seen. He has declared war and he intends to win. Now Skye must find a way to gather those who agreed to follow her into an army that can defeat their foe for good. But it might cost her that budding romance and tax her magician too much. Plus, she’s not sure anymore if she can maintain her composure without losing her entire sense of humanity...

This book is the first to offer a justice-focused cognitive reading of modern YA speculative fiction in its narrative and filmic forms. It links the expansion of YA speculative fiction in the 20th century with the emergence of human and civil rights movements, with the communitarian revolution in conceptualizations of justice, and with spectacular advances in cognitive sciences as applied to the examination of narrative fiction. Oziewicz argues that complex ideas such as justice are processed by the human mind as cognitive scripts; that scripts, when narrated, take the form of multiply indexable stories; and that YA speculative fiction is currently the largest conceptual testing ground in the forging of justice consciousness for the 21st century world. Drawing on recent research in the cognitive and evolutionary sciences, Oziewicz explains how poetic, retributive, restorative, environmental, social, and global types of justice have been represented in narrative fiction, from 19th century folk and fairy tales through 21st century fantasy, dystopia, and science fiction. Suggesting that the appeal of these and other nonmimetic genres is largely predicated on the dream of justice, Oziewicz theorizes new justice scripts as conceptual tools essential to help humanity survive the qualitative leap toward an environmentally conscious, culturally diversified global world. This book is an important contribution to studies of children’s and YA speculative fiction, adding a new perspective to discussions about the educational as well as social potential of nonmimetic genres. It demonstrates that the justice imperative is very much alive in YA speculative fiction, creating new visions of justice relevant to contemporary challenges.

By connecting Shakespeare's language to the stunning artwork that depicted the end of the world, this study provides not only provides a new reading of Shakespeare but illustrates how apocalyptic art continues to influence popular culture today. Drawing on extant examples of medieval imagery, Roger Christofides uses poststructuralist and psychoanalytic accounts of how language works to shed new light on our understanding of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. He then links Shakespeare's dependence on his audience to appreciate the allusions made to the religious paintings to the present day. For instance, popular television series like Battlestar Galactica, seminal horror movies such as An American Werewolf in London and Carrie and recent novels like Cormac McCarthy's The Road. All draw on imagery that can be traced directly back to the depictions of the Doom, an indication of the cultural power these vivid imaginings of the end of the world have in Shakespeare's day and now.

Genres: GameLit, Post-Apocalyptic, Adventure Fantasy Waking up to discover the apocalypse had begun, and to find that I was no longer human, was not how I thought my day would go. But then again, I supposed I was thankful to just have another day to begin with, considering I'd apparently been a mindless monster for the last several months. The city was a mess, with many buildings destroyed by massive black towers that rose into the sky like enormous thorns. And yet, despite all this, I was about to discover that the monsters and bizarre landscape weren't the strangest things about the apocalypse. At least, not if the visual hallucination that displayed game-like stats counted. Warning: This book contains content that may not be suitable for all audiences, including excessive profanity and some violence/gore. Prologue As she got into position to strike, I quickly realized that stalking must truly come naturally to our kind, because the little demon proceeded to expertly sneak up on the man like a ninja, leaping onto his back and sinking her teeth into his neck. I could hear the snap from here, as she broke his spine at the base of his skull, dropping him to the ground in an instant. However, the fact that I could hear it so loudly also meant that the other man did too. He whipped his head around, just in time to see a four-legged creature dash behind another car. Crying out in shock, he fired his gun a few shots after she had already vanished, only to run over to his partner in crime, continuing to point his weapon towards the car. Little did he realize that she was already on the move the moment he glanced away. Rise of the Night Stalkers is a full-length novel. Genres: GameLit, Post-Apocalyptic, Adventure Fantasy

In a world threatened by the imminent death of its sun, young Yama lives a relatively happy and peaceful life as the daughter of the chief of the village. But everything changes the day a sword of glass falls from the sky, just as the prophecy had announced. Anyone who touches the sword is instantly turned to glass and dies. Orland, the local lord of war, comes to take possession of the unique weapon but fails to retrieve it. In the process, Yama’s father is killed and her mother taken away. Yama, however, escapes and survives with only one thought: when she grows up, she will return to get the sword of glass, and avenge her parents.